Charisma Carpenter

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Charisma Carpenter

Charisma Carpenter at the 2005 Comic-Con.
Born Charisma Lee Carpenter
July 23, 1970 (1970-07-23) (age 37)
Las Vegas, Nevada
Other name(s) Chrissy
Spouse(s) Damien Hardy (October 5, 2002 - present) (separated)

Charisma Lee Carpenter (born July 23, 1970) is an American actress. She is best known for playing the character Cordelia Chase in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.

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[edit] Early life

Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, the youngest child of Chris, a bird sanctuary employee, and Don Carpenter, a salesman.[1] She is of Cherokee, Irish, Scottish, and Spanish ancestry on her mother's side and French and German on her father's side.[citation needed] Carpenter attended Bishop Gorman High School. When she was 15, her family moved to Rosarito city, Mexico and then to San Diego where she attended Bonita Vista High School and Chula Vista School of the Creative and Performing Arts. After graduation, Carpenter traveled throughout Europe..[2] Once she returned to San Diego again she worked as a video store clerk, an aerobics instructor, and in 1991, as a San Diego Charger cheerleader, before beginning her Hollywood career.[3] In 1992 she moved to Los Angeles [4] and took a job as waitress on Sunset Boulevard and began saving money for her college education with hopes of becoming an English teacher. [5]

[edit] Career

Carpenter was discovered by a commercial agent while waitressing in Los Angeles. This led to her role on more than twenty TV Advertisements. Her first real acting break came in 1994 when she made a guest appearance on the Baywatch. Shortly after that, Aaron Spelling cast her as Ashley in his prime-time soap opera Malibu Shores, which has a very short run from March to June of 1996.

In 1997, Carpenter auditioned for the title role in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer but instead was cast as Cordelia Chase, a snobby and popular high school student. Her character was intended to be a temporary one, but Cordelia's popularity grew and she became a regular in the second season. After three seasons on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Carpenter was offered an even larger role as the same character on the spin-off series Angel along with David Boreanaz. Although her character leaves the series during Angel's fourth season, Carpenter returned for the 100th episode in the fifth and final season because she felt that Cordelia's fans deserved closure after the controversy of her unexplained removal from the show.

In 2003 Carpenter starred in the film See Jane Date. During the filming of the movie she became good friends with her co-star Holly Marie Combs and their friendship led to Carpenter's three episode guest appearance on Charmed as a psychic demon called The Seer.

Carpenter posed for a nude pictorial and appeared on the cover of the June 2004 issue of Playboy magazine. She made the decision to pose as a motivation to lose her pregnancy weight and [6] the photos were taken ten months after she gave birth to her son. In 2004, she also starred in the sex comedy What Boys like, directed by Lawrence Gay, and played a role in Miss Match.

Carpenter had a recurring role as Kendall Casablancas in the TV series Veronica Mars for the 2005-2006 season, appearing in 11 episodes. She also starred in Voodoo Moon by writer/director Kevin VanHook, as well as an assortment of made-for-television movies. One such recent movie was called Relative Chaos on ABC Family, co-starring with Nicholas Brendon, one of her co-stars from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Carpenter guest-starred in the season finale of ABC Family's television show Greek and according to TV Guide will reprise her role in the Season 2 premiere. [7] According to TV Guide in September 2007, she was set to join the cast of The Apprentice: Celebrity Edition,[8] but instead chose to do a guest appearance on the show Back to You as well as a recurring role on Big Shots.[9]

In 2008, it was announced that Paley Fest would be having a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion. Carpenter attended the event, which was held on March 20th, 2008, alongside Buffy creator Joss Whedon, producer Marti Noxon and other Buffy alumni including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Amber Benson, Seth Green, and Michelle Trachtenberg.[10]

[edit] Personal life

Carpenter lives in Los Angeles. She married Damian Hardy on October 5, 2002, separated from him in late 2007,[11] and filed for divorce. They have a son named Donavan Charles Hardy who was born on March 24, 2003. [12]

As a fitness enthusiast her outdoor hobbies are biking, rollerblading, horseback riding, hiking, rock climbing, and ski-diving.[13]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] TV series

Year TV Show Role Status Notes
1994 Baywatch Wendie Sanders Guest Star Season 5, Episode 5
1995 Boy Meets World Caterer Guest Star Season 3, Episode 10
1996 Malibu Shores Ashley Green Regular Show lasted 10 episodes
1997-1999 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Cordelia Chase Regular (Seasons 1-3) Appeared in 55 episodes
1999 Hey Arnold! Simone, a 6th grader Guest Star (Voice) Season 4, Episode 5 ("Phoebe Skips")
1999-2004 Angel Cordelia Chase Regular (Seasons 1-4), Special Guest Star* Appeared in 86 episodes
2001 Strange Frequency Jules Guest Star Season 1, Episode 12
2003 Miss Match Serena Lockner Special Guest Star Appeared in 4 episodes
2004 Like Cats and Dogs Sarah Regular Rejected UPN sitcom pilot
2004 The Division Emma Campbell Guest Star Season 4, Episode 14
2004 Charmed Kira / The Seer Guest Star Season 7, Episodes 3,5 & 10
2004 LAX Julie Random Special Guest Star Season 1, Episode 9
2005-2006 Veronica Mars Kendall Casablancas Guest Star Appeared in 11 episodes
2007 Greek Tegan Walker Guest Star Season 1, Episode 10
2007 Back to You Brooke Schimmel Guest Star Season 1, Episode 6
2007 Big Shots Heather/Janelle Johns Special Guest Star/Recurring Character Season 1, Episodes 09 &11

[edit] Movies

Year Film Role Notes
1995-1996 Josh Kirby... Time Warrior! Beth Sullivan 3 Movie Series, Direct to Video
2001 What Boys Like Kim Release in Europe as The Groomsmen
2003 See Jane Date Jane Grant ABC Family Original Movie
2005 Voodoo Moon Heather IDT Entertainment
2006 Flirting with Danger Laura Clifford Lifetime Movie
2006 Cheaters' Club Linda Stern Lifetime Movie
2006 Relative Chaos Katherine ABC Family Original Movie //

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.superiorpics.com/charisma_carpenter/
  2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004806/bio
  3. ^ [http:www.netglimse.com/celebs/pages/charisma_carpenter/inde.shtml
  4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004806/bio
  5. ^ [http:www.netglimse.com/celebs/pages/charisma_carpenter/inde.shtml
  6. ^ Carrie Bell (2005-11-04). Celebrity Q&A: Veronica Mars' Charisma Carpenter. People. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  7. ^ Mitovich, Matt. "Charisma Carpenter Goes Greek (Again)", TV Matt’rs, TV Guide, 2008-06-03. Retrieved on 2008-06-03. 
  8. ^ Matt Webb Mitovich (2007-09-12). Exclusive: Buffy's Charisma Stakes Apprentice Spot. TV Guide. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
  9. ^ Matt Webb Mitovich (2007-09-21). For Charisma, Trump's Out, Other Big Shots Are In. TV Guide. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
  10. ^ PaleyFest. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reunion. Paley Center. Retrieved on 2008-03-23.
  11. ^ Buffy's Charisma Carpenter, Husband Split. People (2007-11-27). Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  12. ^ Louise A. Barile (2003-03-27). Passages: Charisma Carpenter a Mommy. People. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  13. ^ [http:televison.aol.com/celebrity/charisma-carpenter/283367/bio

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Persondata
NAME Carpenter, Charisma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH